The following relates generally to remote control systems and, more particularly, relates to a system and method for monitoring remote control transmissions.
Devices adapted to unobtrusively monitor the tuning of a home entertainment center are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,414 describes a device adapted to work with the remote controls of the various appliances that comprise the home entertainment center. The device functions to receive a signal from the remote controls, determine which appliance was the intended target of the signal, send an infrared signal to the intended target appliance, and store tuning information. In this manner, the stored information may be retrieved at a later time and used to determine program ratings.
While the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,414 performs adequately when it is only desired to simply monitor the transmission of command codes to a home entertainment center, what is needed is a system that functions to monitor remote control transmissions for the purpose of tracking the state of appliances. In this regard, remote controls commonly provide for the transmission of a sequence of command codes in response to activation of a macro key, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,751. By way of example, a macro can be used to transmit a sequence of command codes to power on all appliances of a home entertainment center, to access pay-per-view events via a set-top box, etc. However, if a home appliance is already in a state that is intended to be controlled by a command in a macro command transmission (e.g., the macro is intended to turn on an appliance that is already in the “on” state), the receipt of such a command may place the appliance in an unintended state (e.g., the receipt of the “power” command may inadvertently cause the appliance to toggle to the “off” state).
It is also known in the art to maintain within the internal memory of a remote control a record of commands issued to appliances from that remote control for the purpose of attempting to predict the status of a controlled appliance. An example of such a remote control system is disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2001/0045819 entitled “State-based Remote Control System.” While such a remote control system may work in theory, it is seen that such a remote control system suffers the disadvantage that the potential use of multiple remote controls, etc. cannot be accounted for in making a status prediction that is derived from a record that is maintained within the internal memory of a single remote control.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a need exists for an improved system and method that functions to monitor remote control transmissions for the purpose of preventing an appliance from being commanded to enter an unintended state.